2024 World Series Game 5 storylines, how to watch

Here are the five biggest storylines for Game 5 at Yankee Stadium.

1) Can Cole come through again?
Let's be honest. The Yankees should have won Game 1. This series should be a draw! In that first game, Cole did exactly what the Yankees had hoped for when they committed him to $324 million as a free agent before the 2020 season. He gave the bullpen the game with a lead and looked like the ace he was for most of his career. Now they just need him again to keep their season alive.

The Yankees used their best bullpen arms to maintain their lead on Tuesday, and while they will be available if needed on Wednesday – this is an elimination game – it's too much to expect them to beat the Dodgers switch off again. That's Cole's game as long as he sticks it out. It rests on his shoulders. That's why he's here.

2) Will Freddie Freeman hit home runs again?
If the Dodgers end up winning this series – which is still pretty likely considering they're up 3-1 – Freeman will obviously be the MVP. His two-run throw in the first inning of Game 4 marked his sixth consecutive World Series game with a home run (since 2021 with Atlanta), which is of course the all-time record.

Let's not forget that one of the main storylines of this series was whether Freeman would even be available to play and, if so, whether his sprained ankle would continue to hamper him. Instead, he hit home runs every night and was even quick to the line to prevent a potential groundball double play and bring home another run in Game 4.

This is particularly significant for the Dodgers because Shohei Ohtani, who had at least one hit on Tuesday night, really doesn't look like himself in this series. That shoulder obviously bothers him; That might have been the biggest grimace he's ever made in the last two games. The Dodgers may need Freeman to hit like Ohtani has done all year. Luckily, he has been so far.

3) Is Aaron Judge on the verge of a breakthrough?
Judge went 1-for-3 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch on Tuesday, so the 6,000-foot home run everyone assumes he set up hasn't happened yet. But be careful: you can see him coming closer. He's ditched the breaking balls outside that he was hitting, and he's starting to increase the time on fastballs, including Only In his next-to-last shot attempt in Game 4, he missed one. He hit an RBI single in the eighth, once again fending off bad pitches, and it's starting to look like he's stuck. (He even stole a base!)

The homer is coming. If we've learned anything from all our years of watching Judge, there may be more to come soon. The Dodgers should probably try to hurry up and end this series before Judge lights up. Because he is about to do so.

4) Can Flaherty keep the Dodgers rotation going?
If you didn't care about baseball for most of the regular season and just watched the World Series, you'd think the Dodgers would have made it this far because they have the Braves' rotation from the '90s. All three current LA rotation members – Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler – were outstanding in this World Series. And when we saw the Dodgers' bullpen play go hands-down in Game 4, it's a good thing they were.

When you step back and look at this series as a whole, it's actually notable that the Dodgers' starters have emerged as the best Reason they are up 3-1; If those three hadn't neutralized the Yankees' initial pitching advantage that we all assumed they had coming in, this series would be tied…or perhaps the Dodgers would be behind?

Can Flaherty continue? He's been hot and cold this postseason and in many ways throughout his career. If the Dodgers get Good Flaherty, they could close out Wednesday's game. If they get Bad Flaherty, everyone might return to Los Angeles for Game 6. The Dodgers went into the series just hoping that their rotation could hold up. It turned out to be her strength. You need it to stay that way.

5) Can the Yankees build on this?
Volpe's grand slam in Game 4 seemed to wake up not just Yankee Stadium, but the entire team. They went from dejected to energetic in one fell swoop, and that energy seemed to grow as the game went on. It culminated in a five-run eighth inning that not only allowed the Yankees to avoid putting Luke Weaver out in the top of the ninth inning, but it may have been the final push to get Judge, and frankly that Total insult, leave.

After Freeman hit a home run in the first, it seemed as if the Yankees would simply roll over and get carried away. Instead, they slowly got back into shape as the night went on. This Yankees team already looks different than it did on Monday night. Can they do it again and send everyone west for the weekend?